Measuring and Interpreting Low-Stress Fabric Mechanical and Surface Properties

Abstract

An investigation is presented of the levels of commonality held by panels of judges from different countries in assessing fabric handle for both summer and winter men's suiting materials. The sets of 214 winter and 156 summer fabrics used to obtain the subjective assessments and the KESF measurements of low-stress mechanical and surface properties for men's suiting fabrics form the basis of this investigation. There is a common notion of the handle of men's suiting fabrics, and superimposed on this notion are subtle national preferences and individual differences within national panels. In the case of summer fabrics, there are two notions of fabric handle: one held in common by panels from Japan and the People's Republic of China, and another held by national panels from Australia, New Zealand, India, the U.S.A., and Hong Kong and Taiwan. Individual differences between judges within a panel imply that for winter fabrics, the mean handle assessment of a national panel can be predicted by the judge whose assessments agree most strongly with the mean assessment of his national panel to only a moderate level of precision; i.e., only fabrics with differences in mean handle rating of greater than 1.6 units on a scale from 0.0 ( for unsatisfactory handle) to 5.0 (excellent handle) can be distinguished reliably. The equivalent value for the summer fabrics is approximately 3 handle grading units (on a scale of 1 to 5), based on the "Western" notion of summer fabric handle held commonly by the six countries lis ted here.